Fake prosecutor scams victim out of W60m as voice phishing follows Koreans on summer vacation

At a financial fraud prevention lecture held last month in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, one case stood out: a victim who lost 60 million won ($41,400) to a scammer posing as a prosecutor. Jung In-tae, a fraud prevention officer at Toss Bank's financial fraud prevention unit who spoke at the event, said criminals exploit the fact that most people rarely visit the Korean National Police Agency's website, creating copycat pages to pressure victims into paying money on the pretext that they are implicated in a criminal case.

The Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday it will launch an intensive awareness campaign at public venues across the country throughout August to combat voice phishing targeting summer vacationers. The campaign will reach beachgoers and travelers at airports, KTX trains and subways, as well as resorts, local festivals and professional soccer stadiums.

The FSS will operate a fraud prevention booth for two days — Aug. 7 and 8 — at the 30th Busan Sea Festival at Dadaepo Beach in Busan. Run jointly with Busan Bank, the booth will feature true-or-false quizzes on the latest scam cases and countermeasures, as well as a cyber experience zone where visitors can hear actual recordings of scammers to learn how the schemes work.

Prevention videos will also air throughout August at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, home ground of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The videos are structured around voice phishing's three key response steps — suspect, hang up and verify — set alongside footage from soccer matches. A scene of a player questioning a foul corresponds to doubting a call from someone claiming to be a prosecutor, while a video assistant referee (VAR) review corresponds to calling an institution directly to confirm.

At 14 major resorts nationwide that draw large numbers of families, prevention videos will run 100 times a day on large outdoor screens. The venues include Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon, Sol Beach locations in Jindo, Samcheok and Yangyang, Geoje Sonokam and Haeundae Sonomoon.

For public transportation, videos explaining common scam tactics — including impersonating registered delivery services and luring victims to motels — along with prevention tips will be broadcast on large screens and flight information monitors at 13 airports nationwide, on KTX cabin monitors (about 93 times a month) and on monitors inside Seoul Metro Line 9 trains (about 120 times a day).

Other prevalent scam types include a "self-confinement" scheme in which victims are told to stay alone at a lodging under the guise of cooperating with an investigation; an AI-based family impersonation scam that manipulates a child's voice; a loan fraud scheme that uses the lure of low-interest refinancing to trick victims into depositing money into a third-party account; and smishing attacks that exploit travel reservation details to demand card re-authentication.

Jung advised anyone who receives a suspicious request to click a link to check whether the site is actually registered using a domain registration lookup service, ask a generative AI tool about the site's safety, and switch their smartphone to airplane mode the moment they suspect voice phishing.

"By raising awareness of scam tactics and countermeasures at high-traffic public venues during peak travel season, we expect to heighten public vigilance against voice phishing and contribute to preventing harm," an FSS official said.